According to Mr. Karel Van Miert, European Competition Commissioner, the results are not satisfactory since current aid levels remain still too high. He stressed a strict control of State aid as a priority task of the European Commission.
This survey reveals a decrease in manufacturing aid in 1995/1997 compared with 1993/1995:
In the Community of 12, aid levels in relation to value added were going down from 3.5% to 2.9%. Aid levels per person employed were going down from 1460 Euros to 1298 Euros, and from EUR 41809 million to EUR 36365 million.
Decreases are perceptible in few Member States like Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy and, particularly Germany (from 4.4 to 3.1).
One can mention that aid levels are substantially different between Member States. Thus, for example, aid levels in relation to value added are highest in Greece and Italy (respectively 5.6% and 5.3%) and lowest in the UK and Sweden (0.9% and 1%). But these differences seem to become smaller.
Member States like Spain, Denmark, Netherlands which have low aid levels, have continued to increase them whereas Italy and Germany are reducing their high aid levels. The three new Member States have aid levels far below the Community average.
The annual total of aid granted in the 15 Member States during the period 1995/97 was around EUR 95 billion. From this amount, EUR 38 billion were granted to the manufacturing sector. If one compare for the Community of 12 during 1995/97 with 1993/95, aid has decreased with 12%. This decrease is clear in all sectors except for financial services.
For all these reasons, the European Commission took the following measures to strictly control the State aid system:
- publication of a Notice on fiscal aid which gives the guidelines for the application of Article 92 of the EC Treaty.
- implementation of the Council Regulation (EC) N° 994/98 of 7 May 1998 which provides the European Commission with a legal basis to exempt certain aid categories like aid for SME's, research and development, environmental aid and training aid from the obligation to notify.
- strengthening of illegal aid recovery discipline provided by the new Council Regulation (EC) N° 659/1999 of 22 March 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Article 93 of the EC Treaty.
- creation of a State aid system control at the international level to help third countries with whom the European Commission has signed agreements incorporating State aid provisions.
On the grounds of transparency, the European Commission is going to publish its State aid surveys on an annual basis.
This article is based and incorporates information provided by the European Commission (Press Releases) and is intended for general information. Specialist advice should be sought before acting on it.
